E3D V6 on the Ultimaker 2 system

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I am currently testing the E3D V6 Hot End on the Ultimaker 2. I have created a mount and modified the firmware to allow for the use of the thermocouple and heater block that comes standard with the E3D V6 Hot End kit. I was able to carry out the Autotune PID for PLA and ABS in Pronterface for the ED3 V6. Using the change material function on the Ultimaker 2 allowed for the extrusion of the PLA as expected. However, a problem appeared when I went to print a simple test object. The system heated up and then before it reached the final temperature for printing the system shut down and the screen to contact Ultimaker support showed up. Are there certain heating feedback parameters that need to be modified in Marlin in order for other Hot Ends to function on the Ultimaker 2 platform? This thread is meant to be an open discussion to help myself and others who want to use the E3D V6 Hot End on the Ultimaker 2. I will be posting my future findings and solutions, however, productive input from other UM2 users is always welcomed.

Firmware 14.12.1 updates on this, by changing the parameters for this error to happen. So that it does not happen on machines with weak heaters.

How does the heater error work?

When the heating is on full power (100% output) a timer starts. This timer is stopped as soon as the heating is no longer 100%. The timer runs out after 20 seconds. After these 20 seconds of full power heating, the temperature is compared to the temperature at the start of the timer. If the temperature did not increase by 10C then the heater error is generated.

Now, the worst case I've found in the office. Was a 21W heater (normal is 25W). Which warmed up 20C in 20 seconds, starting from 260C dropping to 200C and then at 200C turning the heater full on. Pretty much the worse case that can happen, as you first get a continued drop from the cooling down.

Now, if you are getting this error. Check the following:

* The heater and temperature sensor should be fully in the hotend so that no full round metal is sticking out. As that's bad stuff, and that's exactly what this new error is trying to detect.

* Make sure you have firmware 14.12.1 or newer. As 14.12 was calibrated on machines with strong heaters by mistake.

* The fan air-flow should not hit the hotend blok. Some custom fan shrouds have the bottom open. Which isn't that great for airflow when the bed is near. (Cura's "fan full at height" setting can help here to battle this)

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Could you post a picture of your e3d hot end setup please? Probably you should just go to firmware 14.11 or older (that's what I use) but I also had some unnecessary metal-to-metal contact that meant I was heating up more than I needed to.

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When I changed to E3D I modified the Heater block to accommodate the new heater and the original PT100 Sensor. I ordered the wrong heater and was stuck with the 25W heater for a while. I got this error a lot because the block wasn't heating fast enough. With the 40W heater and the calibration I never had that error again.

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GR 5, I'm also in the Boston area. Included is a pic of my E3D V6 mod with mount. As anyone can see in the pic the thermistor is not connected. I am in the process of replacing the original thermistor after a printing session where the head overheated.

Restinpieces, yes I was able to run a PID autotune and this worked until the heating block overheated and damaged the thermistor. Your point about the 40W heater vs the 25W heater is very important. Ultimaker engineering has confirmed via email that a 40W 24V heater will work just fine on the UM2. Good to hear that your E3D V6 system is working! How did you take the cap off of the original PT100 sensor or did you machine a new bore in the heating block to accept the PT100 sensor? Also, have you modified the inside shaft of the Heatbreak with a PTFE tube (4mm OD-3mm ID) to help prevent jamming when printing with PLA?

My interest in the E3D V6 stems from the ability to change nozzles sizes and the flexibility of the system to change into a Volcano Hotend. So when my system is functioning and printing quality prints I will be summarizing the details needed to get the E3D V6 Hotend to function on the UM2.

I am also working on adapting several other Hotend systems to the UM2 and will be posting those results and detailed descriptions on the forums when they are ready.

The important point here is that the UM2 platform is flexible enough for experimentation and yet precise enough when needed for detailed printing. Happy Printing!

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Restinpieces, yes I was able to run a PID autotune and this worked until the heating block overheated and damaged the thermistor. Your point about the 40W heater vs the 25W heater is very important. Ultimaker engineering has confirmed via email that a 40W 24V heater will work just fine on the UM2. Good to hear that your E3D V6 system is working! How did you take the cap off of the original PT100 sensor or did you machine a new bore in the heating block to accept the PT100 sensor? Also, have you modified the inside shaft of the Heatbreak with a PTFE tube (4mm OD-3mm ID) to help prevent jamming when printing with PLA?

Im sorry to hear that.

I took a lock at the electronics and decided that modifying it for the thermistor was to much of a hassle. Also I wanted to go hot for some new material testing and therefor the PT100 was the only option.

So I drilled a hole in the E3D to accommodate the PT100. It worked but I didn't liked it because the PT100 was sticking out to much.

So I drilled a new one.

Here is a pic

I bought the E3D direct 3mm because I'm planning to switch to flex drive. So I have no PTFE inside.

How did u adapt the thermistor to the UM2 electronic?

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Restinpieces, nice mod ! So the thermistor that comes with the E3D V6 will work with the UM2 board. I connected the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to the UM2 board and then in firmware I changed the settings to match the new thermistor. In order to get this to work on UM2 you need to use an older version of Marlin to compile and upload the changes. Daid compiles the official builds with Marlin V 1.0.3 for Windows and V 1.0.5 on the other platforms. More info and discussion regarding the Marlin changes can be found on the forum here: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/7807-main-links-for-marlin-firmware/

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Today I was able to get the E3D V6 Hot End to print PLA on the UM2. It still needs tuning and a some more mods but now I know it is possible to use this Hot End on the UM2 platform. I will be putting together a list of instructions on what is required to get this to work and posting it here soon. Next up the Volcano version !

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I'm experimenting with the E3D V6 hotend with the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor. I hooked it up to temp1 on the Ultimaker2 board and changed to #define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5 in config.h and uploaded, but I don't get proper readings.

Do I need to plug in the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to an analog pin and reassign the pins as the Ultimainboard uses the INA826 amp on temp 1. Or am I missing something?

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I'm experimenting with the E3D V6 hotend with the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor. I hooked it up to temp1 on the Ultimaker2 board and changed to #define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5 in config.h and uploaded, but I don't get proper readings.

Do I need to plug in the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to an analog pin and reassign the pins as the Ultimainboard uses the INA826 amp on temp 1. Or am I missing something?

Are you using the 40W version of the heater? Have you carried out a PID calibration of the new heater and thermistor? Take the values from the PID calibration and enter them in as the new values before printing.

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I'm a French Maker and we are basically in the same situation, i'm trying to mount the E3DV6 on my Ultimaker. I don't have changed the firmware but directly bought a new Motherboard from Create it Real which is way smarter (and is compatible with SLA for my next printer ).

Do you still have the .stl file of the mount ? Because i have made a diy montage with the original Head support, but it's pretty heavy and ugly to be honest. I'm trying to make my Ultimaker as fast as possible.

I have also deported the fan out of the Head and there is now 4 big 12v fans on the frame of the machine, It work pretty well, i have still a really good quality.

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I'm a French Maker and we are basically in the same situation, i'm trying to mount the E3DV6 on my Ultimaker. I don't have changed the firmware but directly bought a new Motherboard from Create it Real which is way smarter (and is compatible with SLA for my next printer ).

Do you still have the .stl file of the mount ? Because i have made a diy montage with the original Head support, but it's pretty heavy and ugly to be honest. I'm trying to make my Ultimaker as fast as possible.

I have also deported the fan out of the Head and there is now 4 big 12v fans on the frame of the machine, It work pretty well, i have still a really good quality.

Hi Nicolas,

I'm curious about what benefits you see with that electronics package over the Arduino based UM setup? Does it run proprietary firmware?

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I'm experimenting with the E3D V6 hotend with the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor. I hooked it up to temp1 on the Ultimaker2 board and changed to #define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5 in config.h and uploaded, but I don't get proper readings.

Do I need to plug in the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to an analog pin and reassign the pins as the Ultimainboard uses the INA826 amp on temp 1. Or am I missing something?

Are you using the 40W version of the heater? Have you carried out a PID calibration of the new heater and thermistor? Take the values from the PID calibration and enter them in as the new values before printing.

insight, if I got you right you got the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to work connected at temp 1? Just to confirm since you didn't directly said it. You only plugged it in, changed the settings in the firmware (upload, etc) and did the PID calibration? No pull-up resistors? Either way, I'd like to know how you connected it, since I'm finding it difficult to figure it out...

Also, what printhead body are you using? Could you post a link?

I've got a broken PT100 thermocouple, an unusable um2, brand new k-type thermistors and an E3D printhead with the ATC Semitec and am trying to find a way to get things going again before the new PT100B arrives...

Edited June 24, 2015 by Guest

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I'm experimenting with the E3D V6 hotend with the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor. I hooked it up to temp1 on the Ultimaker2 board and changed to #define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5 in config.h and uploaded, but I don't get proper readings.

Do I need to plug in the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to an analog pin and reassign the pins as the Ultimainboard uses the INA826 amp on temp 1. Or am I missing something?

Are you using the 40W version of the heater? Have you carried out a PID calibration of the new heater and thermistor? Take the values from the PID calibration and enter them in as the new values before printing.

insight, if I got you right you got the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to work connected at temp 1? Just to confirm since you didn't directly said it. You only plugged it in, changed the settings in the firmware (upload, etc) and did the PID calibration? No pull-up resistors? Either way, I'd like to know how you connected it, since I'm finding it difficult to figure it out...

Also, what printhead body are you using? Could you post a link?

I've got a broken PT100 thermocouple, an unusable um2, brand new k-type thermistors and an E3D printhead with the ATC Semitec and am trying to find a way to get things going again before the new PT100B arrives...

Ok, so I figured it out. I´ve connected the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 to ADCL Analog 0, using a 4.7k pull-up resistor, and used TEMP_0_PIN = 0 on the firmware, now I can get a reading just fine.

If anybody hits this, just to clarify ´cause it took me a while to come around this whole thing: you connect a cable to 5V (1st pin on the J26 marked header on the board) and a resistor (4.7k in my case) to this, the resistor goes to one lead of the thermistor, and then to an analog input (1st pin on the J25 marked header on the board) and the other to GND (2nd pin on the J26 marked header on the board). Choose the right thermistor in the Configuration.h (5 in this case) and assign TEMP_0_PIN = 0 on pins.h, in the section relative to board 72 (um2), compile, upload and you should be good to go!

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